From 2009-2012 I paid off 28,000 of my own debt. During that time I moved from Long Beach back to Whittier, met the man who is now my husband, and learned tons about how to manage my money. I'm back to blogging now that I'm married and my husband and I work to pay off his student loans. We're adding a baby to the mix this year, to keep things interesting. I don't own a home (and I'm just past 30) but I've come a long way on my financial journey!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

My Week of Discipline

I've been hemming and hawing with a few ideas that would improve my life, but that require discipline. So, I've decided to take the plunge this week and commit to doing a few of the items for a solid week. If I realize that it's working, I'll definitely continue, but I'm making myself DO IT for a week. What are the activities? Read on...

1. Wake up thirty minutes earlier in order to go running in the morning. I want to do this so that I make sure I fit in a workout, even on days where I'm exhausted or busy after work. I also have a TERRIBLE habit of hitting snooze for up to an hour in the morning, so it kills two birds with one stone. My goal is to do this Mon-Thurs (taking Friday off for a little bit of sleeping in). I'm going to lay out my running clothes each night and just do it. This goal is inspired by Katie!

2. Calorie count, sticking to a 1500 calorie diet this week. I've played with various calorie calculators to see what I can eat and still lose weight, and 1500 was about the middle. I'll try this and see if I can lose weight with this amount. I spent some money to do this, buying pre-made Trader Joe's salads to have for lunch at work. I also bought some Luna bars and 100 calorie packs. I figure in order to get started I'll go with this stuff, and once I have established the discipline, I will find ways to calorie count on the cheap. I'm actually hungry now, but waiting until Super Bowl time, since I know I'll use up the rest of my daily calories on those snacks. (Yes, I've calculated what I'm exactly allowed to have already).

3. No FB or blogs at work. I don't do this often (I really don't have time), but I'm super busy at work and using my conference period and after school time wisely will relieve some of that stress. Also, after school I will shut my door and work not wander the halls talking to everyone I can find. There's a teacher happy hour on Friday, and I see people at lunch. I don't need to stay at work an extra hour just to socialize and vent.

That's it. But, I think if I can do all three of these things, I will have a very satisfying, productive week. I need to remind myself that if I can be disciplined with my money after having bad habits for years, I can do the same things with food and exercise.

I've been toying with the idea of getting up early to work out too, but I'm not so sure that I can sacrifice the sleep. I already have mega insomnia and don't get to bed in time for even a five hour sleep, but I guess if it's the only way I can work out, I might have to do just that!

Great goals! I don't have FB, but I recently gave up Twitter at work. It's made a huge difference in my productivity. (But unlike you, I'm hardly ever very busy. It's just that now I'm making myself find things to do when I don't have projects already assigned.)

Good luck on your calorie counting! I spent seven months on a 1,200 calorie diet, so now that I'm done losing, it's been hard to transition back into a higher calorie diet because I'm just accustomed to eating 1,200. Days that are full of "splurges" usually end up in the maintenance calorie range. Maybe after I pay off the debt I'll look into recipes and try to make foods that are healthy but higher calorie. 1,500 is a good starting point for losing. I also need to experiment with exactly how many calories I should eat daily to maintain, but like I said, it's hard to make myself eat a lot more when I'm just not hungry.